Project Mars (Dying Planet Book 0)

by C.O. Amal

  They moved to a nearby boat. Then suddenly the creature in the building saw them and it rushed towards them.

  “Hurry, that thing have found us.” Rayan said.

  They finally got inside a small boat. Rayan pressed the switch on the motor. But it seems dead. Johana pointed her gun at the approaching creature and fired. The bullet hit the creature on its chest. The thing fell back. But, it regained its footing and rushed toward them again. Johana fired again. This time the bullet hit in the head, in the dead centre. The creature quickly fell down.

  “Good aim!” Rayan said.

  “Hurry, move to another boat.” Johana said loudly.

  They all got inside another boat. Rayan pressed the switch to wake up the motor. The motor quickly hum to life. But then they heard some screech. They all looked back. The beach is filled with infected. They all are rushing towards Rayan and Jenny. Rayan quickly drove the boat away from the beach.

  All infected stared at them from the beach. None of them are approaching the sea water. The infected must have sensed the presence of salt in the water, which is the only thing that can kill the virus. They finally reached the ship. The ship looks abandoned. They got inside the ship through the small ladder on the side of the ship. Rayan was the first to climb aboard the ship. He looked for any signs of danger. When he made sure it is totally abandoned outside he signalled at others to follow him. Johana and her children followed Rayan. They got inside the first level of the ship. The ship is a high-tech one with automatic controls.

  They all entered into the ship’s control room. Then they saw it. The creature. It is pacing to and fro aimlessly. It seems that it doesn’t know its way out. The creature indeed lost all human behaviours. The creature’s hands and face are filled with bruises. The creature suddenly sensed human presence and it shifted its gaze towards Rayan. It sniffed the air. Rayan and his co-mates stepped back and closed the door. The creature rushed forward and collided with the steel door. It began to thrash at the door. But it is not strong enough to break the door. Rayan quickly lead others away from the scene toward the boat they had left.

  “We should try another ship or maybe we could go in this boat.” Rayan said to Johana once they climb aboard the tiny boat.

  “We can go away from this place in this boat and maybe we may see the navy in the deep waters.” Johana suggested.

  “Okay we will move to the deep waters in this boat.” Rayan said.

  Rayan rushed the boat through the everlasting ocean waters. The boat glided through the open ocean. They travelled for an hour. Based on the position of the sun it is nearly noon. Then Rayan first saw it. A military ship is coming in their direction. Rayan slowed down the boat a bit. The Ship reached near Rayan’s boat and it stopped moving. Some soldiers wearing biohazard suit came to the side of the ship.

  “Stop where you are.” One of the soldier said.

  Ryan switched off the motor of the boat.

  “Are you infected?” Another soldier asked.

  “No.” Rayan answered. “Can you take us with you?”

  The soldier said nothing. Then he asked “Did you come in direct contact with the infected.”

  “No. We are not exposed to the virus if you’re meaning that.” Johana said.

  “Then climb aboard.” The soldier dropped a rope ladder.

  Rayan, Johana, Josh and Sam climbed through the rope ladder to the ship.

  “Where are you headed to?” Rayan asked the soldier.

  “We are going to LA harbour.” The soldier answered.

  “But we just came from that direction. The harbour is infested with the infected.” Rayan said.

  “Let me contact the captain.” The soldier said.

  The soldier took a radio in his hand and switched the channel.

  “Captain, this is Corporal Danny. Do you copy?” Danny asked through the radio.

  “Yes, I copy you, what’s the situation? Are they clean?” Captain asked through the radio speaker.

  “These people are clean. They came from LA harbour, and they claim that the harbour is infested with the infected. Do you want us to continue the mission?” Danny asked.

  “Our mission is to rescue the survivors and exterminate the infected. Our mission still continues. Nothing changes.” Captain said through the speaker.

  “Okay, captain, it’s your call.” Danny said and kept aside the radio.

  “You can’t go there. Those things are fast and strong.” Johana said.

  “I am sorry. I have my orders.” Danny said.

  The ship began to move towards the Los Angeles harbour from where Johana and Rayan escaped in the first place. The ship halted about half a mile away from the harbour. The harbour is swarming with the creatures.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 13

  Los Angeles Harbour

  “Snipers, take out all of them.” Captain’s voice echoed through the ship’s speakers.

  Snipers pointed their sniper rifle at the creatures. All of them aligned a head shot. Then the snipers fired one round. The first line of creatures fell down. The creatures became more active when they heard the gun fires. But they are not going to touch the sea water too. They stayed there, staring in the ship’s direction, biting the air. Snipers fired again. This time ten of them fell down at once. A sharp screech emanated from the creatures’ throat. They began to jump in mid-air agitated by the gun fire. They seemed to have noticing the reduction in their numbers.

  The creatures appeared to be showing a pack behaviour. They seemed to care about their fellow comrades. Snipers fired again and again until every last one of the creatures on the beach is dead. Soldiers deployed five small lifeboats in the water and they got inside it. They stir the boat towards the beach.

  Soldiers on the boats are armed to the teeth. Everyone have advanced assault rifles with many magazines attached to their waist. Rayan and Johana watched the soldiers, who have went to the beach, with great expectation. The soldiers are led by Danny. All the soldiers are in biohazard suits.

  The soldiers finally reached the beach and they got outside the boats. They first made sure the location is secure. Then they split in to five groups and moved in separate ways.

  “Alpha one, radio check, over.” Danny said through the radio.

  “Alpha two, radio check, over … Alpha three, radio check, over … Alpha four, radio, check over … Alpha five, radio check, over.” Other soldiers said.

  “Please proceed, everyone.” Captain said through the radio from the ship.

  Some soldiers in bio hazard suit are aboard the ship watching for any movements. Snipers are high above the ship, they also are watching for any danger through their scope.

  “Alpha one, I am seeing some heavy activity toward you. Brace yourself. How copy?” One of the sniper said.

  “Loud and clear.” Danny said back.

  Danny and his team of ten soldiers moved carefully through the open road.

  “Everyone, ready your grenades. Snipers have detected heavy movement towards us.” Danny said.

  Everyone got hold of their grenades. Suddenly a group of infected rushed towards Danny and his team. Everyone threw their grenades at the approaching horde and braced for explosion. After a moment the grenades exploded. Body parts of the creatures littered on the pavement. Soldiers shot down the remaining creatures.

  “Alpha one, is everyone alright?” One of the sniper asked through the radio.

  “We are fine. We have a successful encounter. All the approached creatures exterminated. Over.” Danny said back.

  Danny and his team paced quickly through the road. Nearly all the buildings’ front door had been thrashed open. There is no sign of human life. Suddenly creatures started to jump out of the roof of the buildings on both sides of the road, towards Danny and his team. Soldiers yelled commands. Some soldiers started to shoot the creatures who have landed on the road. The jumped creatures’ limbs seemed to have broken. Their movement is slower than usual. Soldiers easily shot down
the creatures. But some of the creatures landed on top of the soldiers who are closer to the buildings. Soldiers’ scream echoed through the street.

  Danny and rest of the soldiers shot down all the creatures. But then some heavy movement caught Danny’s eye. The creatures who have possibly attracted by the gun fire and recent explosions stormed at them.

  “Everyone, fall back to the boat.” Danny yelled.

  Danny and the remaining soldiers ran towards their lifeboats. On the way Danny took out three grenades and threw them at the creatures. The explosions were loud. Most of the creatures got torn apart by the explosion. Rest of the creatures still ran towards Danny.

  Danny and team finally reached the lifeboats. But the creatures were quick. They jumped on to the lifeboat from the beach. Soldiers didn’t get time to react. The creatures bit everything that came in their way. Danny somehow managed to jump out of the boat in to the sea water. Soldiers’ scream lost in the screech of the creatures. Danny swam toward the ship.

  Danny somehow managed to swim large distance and finally reached the ship. Other soldiers helped him climb aboard the ship. Danny lie down on the floor of the ship with his face towards the sky. He took heavy breaths. Danny is the only survivor of the Alpha one group.

  “What happened to rest of the groups?” Danny finally asked.

  “Creatures have not yet detected them. Alpha two is on the roof of a building. Other soldiers’ location is currently unknown.” The soldier who helped Danny said.

  Danny finally regained his footing and took a sniper rifle from the ship and he moved towards the snipers. He joined them and took a position. He looked for Alpha two group on top of each buildings. Finally he got a glance at them. They are on top of a shopping complex. Each members have took place on the side of the roof. They are monitoring the surrounding.

  Danny then changed the view and searched for others. He spotted a soldier running towards the building where Alpha two is located. Behind him is a horde of creatures all running to capture the soldier. The creatures are quick. With two or three leaps, the creatures got near him. One of the creature made a hell of a leap and it landed on top of the soldier. Others followed. Blood sprayed in mid-air. The creatures torn apart the soldier and they ate him.

  Danny looked away from the scene. He met all the other snipers eyes. They all had seen the desperate soldier’s final moments. Their eyes got filled with tears. Danny could clearly see their eyes through the glass helmet they are wearing.

  Danny looked again at the Alpha two group. It seems that the horde of creatures have somehow detected Alpha two group. The creatures are rushing at the shopping complex at once. Some of the soldiers on top of the roof dropped grenades to the ground at the horde of creatures. The grenades exploded just in time at the very center of the horde. The creatures were thrown away in mid-air. They landed some place far away from the front door of the building. Some of the creatures regained their footing and rushed at the door again. Some of the creatures were completely torn apart by the explosion.

  More grenades landed on the ground. Creatures again lost their footing. But the explosions only attracted more creatures. Even the creatures very far away are also running at the origin of the explosion. Danny and other soldiers glanced each other. They couldn’t believe what they are seeing. It seems that they haven’t even damaged these horde of creatures. Creatures’ number is increasing rapidly. More people fell under the might of Marselia.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 14

  Los Angeles Harbour

  Danny looked through the scope of his gun. The Alpha two team is continuously dropping grenades at the horde. He changed the position and looked far beyond. More horde of creatures are approaching the shopping complex from all directions. After a moment the explosions stopped. The team must have ran out of their grenades. The horde is still storming at the shopping complex. Then the soldiers on top of the building started to shoot at the approaching creatures from the roof. Sound of gun fire filled the streets.

  More than hundreds of creatures rushed inside the shopping complex. Soldiers on top of the roof looked frightened. Soldiers braced for attack. The creatures thrash opened the door on the roof of the building and hundreds of creatures emerged through the opened door.

  Soldiers fired continuously at the approaching creatures. The creatures seemed to be not caring about the bullet wounds. The horde of creatures rushed forward. Some soldiers took pistols from their holster and pressed it against their head and they pulled the trigger. The creatures jumped on to the soldiers and the creatures jumped out of the building with the soldiers in their hands. Soldiers were ripped apart. Blood sprayed everywhere.

  “Captain, we have to do something.” Danny said to captain who have emerged from the ship’s control room in his biohazard suit.

  Captain looked at the horrifying scene through his binocular.

  “What can we do for them?” Captain asked.

  “The soldiers are dead. No doubt about that, but we could still launch missiles from here. We could dismantle the shopping complex along with those creatures.” Danny said.

  Captain took out his radio from its sheath. “This is your captain speaking. Aim and fire missiles at the shopping complex you can see through your window.” Captain finished with a deep sigh.

  “We copy captain. Missiles away in 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. Missiles launched. Three missiles cut through the clouds at blazing speed. When the missiles are at a safe distance from the ground they travelled in a projectile path and fell on the shopping complex. The shopping complex exploded in to millions of tiny pieces along with thousands of creatures in the surrounding area. The fallout of the remnants of building fell on top of a horde of creatures.

  “Missile attack successful.” Captain said through the radio with excitement, but the excitement was only short lived.

  Then they saw it. Millions of birds in a formation are approaching the ship from the sky. Captain looked through his binocular. The birds are yellowish in colour possibly due to the plague. Some kind of liquid is oozing down from their beak. Blood is everywhere on their head.

  “Everyone, fall back to the ship’s protection.” Captain yelled.

  Rayan, Johana, Josh, and Sam ran inside the ship’s control room along with some soldiers.

  The birds rushed towards the ship. Snipers ran for the nearest door. But they didn’t reached there in time. The birds covered the whole place and they started to cut down the soldiers. Soldiers screamed in pain. Birds’ beak sliced through the flesh of the soldiers. Captain and Danny lost their life in the massacre along with other snipers. The birds were like locusts. Soldiers were torn apart by the birds. After they finished, they stared at the control room through the glass window at the survivors.

  The bird horde quickly rushed at the glass, thinking there is nothing stopping them. Fortunate for the survivors in the control room, the glass was bullet proof. The birds finally fell back and they flew away to another location in search for better fresh meat. The ship’s hull is covered in blood of the soldiers. Bones littered everywhere on the ship. The birds have even eaten the flesh of the soldiers’ head.

  Rayan and Johana came out of the ship’s control room and watched the leaving birds. Birds haven’t noticed them. They are busy searching for fresh meat. Other soldiers joined them.

  “What should we do? Now that captain is gone what would we do?” One of the soldier asked.

  “We should move to a secure location. If possible to a remote island. It’s our only chance for survival.” Rayan said.

  “But, with the presence of those hellish birds nowhere is safe. They will fly everywhere in search for human survivors.” One of the soldier said.

  “Those birds will not fly everywhere. They stick with only populated areas. If we could find an island filled with trees we are saved.” Johana said.

  “Okay, we will then go and search for a remote island.” One of the ship engineer said.

  All agreed.

  “
Now that we are near Los Angeles we could go near Guadalupe Island which is remote and is filled with wooden landscape.” One of the soldier said.

  “Then let’s move to that island. We don’t want to waste time here. There is nothing here for us now.” Johana said.

  The ship’s engine came to life. Ship slowly started to move in the direction of Guadalupe Island.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 15

  New Delhi, India

  “Mr Prime Minister, we have blocked all flights leaving to and coming from United States and all other North American countries.” One of the men in black suit said.

  “But the news from all over the world had reported the presence of infected birds. Did we detected any of that?” Prime minister asked.

  “So far we hadn’t detected any of that. But we are currently searching the skies for any of those birds. Our new laser guns will prevent those creatures from entering our atmosphere.” One of the men said.

  “Did we detected any infected persons?” Prime Minister asked.

  “So far we haven’t encountered any of the infected. Journalists claimed that the White house have fallen under Marselia. The entire North America is filled with the infected people. They are ravaging all the places. We also had heard news from Europe, South America, Africa and Australia about the hellish birds.” One of the men in black suit said. “We haven’t heard from rest of the Asian countries about this. But we can’t take any chances. We must prepare for the worst.”

  ‘What do we know about this Marselia disease?” Prime Minister asked.

  “According to our intelligence report, the Americans discovered some life form on mars. And they were experimenting on it by the code name ‘Project Mars’. Somehow the virus got outside and did what we saw. The infected people’s body seemed to be like plastic. They don’t rot over time. Only greater damage to their brain is fatal for them. This Marselia disease is spreading quickly because of the presence of airborne version of the virus. The infected people are emitting the airborne version from their body. This disease can even affect plants and other animal life forms too. This highly contagious disease must not be treated lightly. The entire North America has fallen under this disease.” The man in black suit finished.